After capping off 2017 with a miraculous shootout victory over the Kenora Thistles, the Norman Northstars couldn’t carry that momentum into their first series of the New Year on Jan. 5–6.
That being said, their opening contest against the Pembina Valley Hawks on Friday started out well enough, with both squads trading goals back and forth for the first 40 minutes, giving the visiting team a 5–4 edge going into the third period.
However, the Hawks really started to turn the tide in the last 20 minutes by scoring three goals in a row, and the Northstars simply couldn’t recover.
Even though the final score evened out to 9–5 infavour of the Hawks, the Northstars still managed to showcase plenty of life thanks to offensive powerhouses such as Jordan Pfoh, Sheldin Howard, and Jerome Linklater, who each scored one goal apiece.
Unfortunately, the same enthusiasm could not be drummed up for Saturday’s match-up, where the Northstars were on the receiving end of a 16–1 thrashing at the hands of the Hawks.
While the first 10 minutes of the match remained fairly competitive, the Northstars’ defence quickly fell apart and goaltender Keian Weseen allowed five goals to pass by the end of the first period.
Even though the coaching staff swapped Weseen out for Braedin Melsted in the second period, things only got worse from there, and the Hawks’ offence continue to dominate for the remaining 40 minutes.
Although Melsted let in another 11 goals by the end of the third, he didn’t get a lot of help from the Northstars’ defence, who allowed 60 shots on their goal. The Northstars’ offence didn’t fare a lot better, since they only managed to generate 19 shots on Hawks’ goaltender Martin Gagnon.
In the aftermath of this latest series, the Northstars are still holding on to last place in the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League with a 2–28–1 record.
Unfortunately, 2018 won’t be getting any easier for the Norman squad, since they will be butting heads with top ranked teams like the Eastman Selects and Winnipeg Bruins at home for the remainder of the regular season.
While the Northstars will be on the road for the larger part of the month, their next home series will be taking place Jan. 26–27 against the second place Winnipeg Wild.
